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Mark Hoppus: Blink are stronger than ever

The pop punk trio - formed of Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker - are best known for hits such as What's My Age Again and All The Small Things. They went their separate ways in 2005 after months of disagreements, but found themselves reuniting after a series of distressing events.

"We broke up for five years and there was all this animosity and bad stuff said about each other in the press," Mark recalled to British newspaper Metro. "There was a period when all these horrible things were happening - friends of ours were dying, Travis was in a plane crash. I think after that everybody was just emotionally drained from the entire experience and we were ready to reconnect."

The horrific accident Travis suffered was in 2008 and claimed the lives of four other passengers onboard the plane. The aircraft hadn't even been able to take off from South Carolina before it crashed through the airport's fence and ended up in an embankment. Travis spent more than 11 weeks being treated for injuries, and Mark remembers how worried he was for his pal's safety.

"I got a phone call from our friend asking if I was OK and I didn't understand what he was talking about," Mark explained.

"Then he told me Travis had been in the crash and was alive but badly injured. I got on the first plane I could and went to visit him which was very surreal."

Blink-182 are to headline the stages at this year's Reading and Leeds Festival in the UK, which takes place this weekend.

Prior to this the band have performed various other gigs, including shows at London's Brixton Academy and the Highfield Festival 2014 in Germany.